Ken Levine on BioShock Infinite's Explicit Violence

In a new interview with Boston Magazine, Irrational Games Creative Director Ken Levine has offered a thoughtful - and somewhat provocative - theory on violence in video games.

Levine, who has been criticized by some for the excessive violence in the otherwise richly atmospheric worlds of his BioShock franchise, believes that art (in this instance, video games) has a "responsibility" to authentically replicate violence.

"One of the responsibilities of art is to actually show this is what it looks like when someone gets shot, because it’s really obfuscated” in news reports of war and violence, Levine told the magazine. “War is about sending pieces of metal very fast at people and tearing them to bits on the most primal level.”

As the magazine notes, explicit violence in video games is something Levine has been queried on many times. While his games are lauded as bastions of storytelling sophistication in the medium, his critics argue that their excessive bloodshed undermines his achievements.